Autodesk 3D CAD modeling app for Mac leverages Mountain Lion features

Summary:Autodesk last week released to the Apple App Store the Mac version of its Inventor Fusion 3D CAD modeling application. For free! Offered alongside the release of OS X Mountain Lion, the software offers direct manipulation capabilities and aims for great ease of use, the company said.

•2D Sketching: Start your designs by using simple 2D sketch tools. Control sketches with dimensions. Create 2D layouts from which you can create multiple shapes fast. •Direct Modeling: Push – pull and edit your way to your final desired result. Direct modeling means you can focus on your design task and not on complex modeling commands and dialogs. Autodesk Inventor Fusion technology is a history free 3D design tool. •Assembly design: Assemblies that mimic the real world makes positioning and moving your design fast and predictable. Designing in context means you have all the right information to make design decisions. Flexible assembly structure ensures you can change your mind at any time. •Real Time Visualization: Beautiful 3D and fast real-time navigation make creating and presenting your design easy.

Interestingly, AutodeskInventor Fusion for Mac supports a number of extra features when running under OS X Mountain Lion (it is compatible with OS X Lion and Mountain Lion). It supports AirPlay Mirroring, full-screen display, and Share Sheet file sharing. In addition, the Mountain Lion Notification Center is integrated with Autodesk 360 cloud services.

A user Dr. Scotts posted an upbeat review about the technology to the Apple App Store page:

I use this software to teach people how to design for 3D printing with Shapeways and it really is quite good. It has all of the basic tools you need to make your products real and I am sure it will get better with future iterations. It does currently output STL files 10-time smaller than it should, but otherwise really good.

David Morgenstern has covered the Mac market and other technology segments for 20 years. In the recent past, he founded Ziff-Davis' Storage Supersite, served as news editor for Ziff Davis Internet and held several executive editorial positions at eWEEK. In the 1990s, David was editor of Ziff Davis' award-winning MacWEEK news publication a...
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